U16s win at Grosvenor

Successful stag hunting trip to Grosvenor

With no league fixture scheduled (this was one of those “off” weeks all East One league clubs will have this season as they have to play the Belfast Met who only field an U18s team) the U16s travelled round the corner to play a friendly against our local school, Grosvenor Grammar.
With somewhat shaky legs and some trepidation our boys took to the field against what looked, in the warmup, to be a well drilled and confident side (typical of most grammar school sides)!

That fear was soon replaced with a little joy as we scored a well worked try in the corner, tricky conversion missed – 5-0.
This was quite quickly followed by more joy, elation, surprise or perhaps even ecstasy (could swear we heard a squeal of excitement from a parent that wouldn’t look out of place in “When Harry met Sally” – no names!) when after some great attacking phase play, we scored another try – conversion good 12-0. Two unanswered tries, against a grammar school's Medallion side.. G’wan the Red Sox!

Half time came and this seemed to rouse Grosvenor and perhaps put us off our rhythm slightly as Grosvenor, having found their feet a little, responded with a converted try.

The score was now 12 -7 but the boys weren’t having any of it… after a quick regroup chat, our lads swamped Grosvenor’s line from the restart. Attack after attack came, and a seemingly never-ending bombarding of Grosvenor’s defence eventually yielded a third try... the boys were on fire.

A healthy lead, yes, but the guys were determined to keep their foot well and truly on the pedal and they again rumbled forward, jabbing and poking at whatever defensive holes they could find. They were like hungry lions at a zebra watering hole, .. patiently stalking their prey, waiting for fatigue and distraction to yield another weakness and a chance to pounce.

Then boom, weak spot found, we mauled our way towards the line to score a fourth try (ya get it, lions, maul – thought this was a bit more David Attenborough-esque than shotgun wielding maniacs hunting stags ?).

At this point it looked like some of the Grosvenor boys were like characters from the Simpsons - no, not the one with the Bart hairstyle, but the ones with a “please make it stop” facial expression – Certainly don’t think they had met opposition like us this season!

A penalty from Miles in the dying minutes finished the score at 25-7 – job well and truly done!
Special mention must go to Man of the Match - Dillon Hollinger who tormented Grosvenor with his strength, pace and oh.. did I mention the four – yes FOUR tries he scored (jugs of Kia-Ora all round).
This was an outstanding performance from a group of players who are both maturing and increasing in confidence week by week.